"cheap" Kits Vs "dearer" Kits And Extras?

[bum]

I get my grain from QLD. If you have a mailbox the cost is not prohibitive.

 

[enuun]

Hi guys,

I have only so far steeped crystal malt.
Was actually fairly surprised to read from here that we can steep grains like chocolate malt too?
I read up on the mash and mini-mash stuff but they were did not mention a specific temperature. Does temp of water used in steeping like chocolate malt matters? or jus hot water will do.
Thanks guys

 

[barls]

my preference is for kits with bits if im going to do one. must make some again soon just for drinking stocks.
as for steeping i use to just boil the kettle and then pour on but i would boil the resultant liquid with some hops.
saying all this my raspberry wheat was a kit beer and even after a year it was a great beer.

 

[manticle]

Hi guys,

I have only so far steeped crystal malt.
Was actually fairly surprised to read from here that we can steep grains like chocolate malt too?
I read up on the mash and mini-mash stuff but they were did not mention a specific temperature. Does temp of water used in steeping like chocolate malt matters? or jus hot water will do.
Thanks guys

You can steep in any temp really - you just don't want to boil the actual grains. You can even steep cold. Cooking experience tells me heat extracts quicker than cold (not necessarily better) so a cold steep should be 12 - 24 hours.

However it is often recommended to steep in water around 70 as that is the high end of the mashing range and is good practice for mashing. In this temp, steep for 30 - 60 minutes.

 

[enuun]

You can steep in any temp really - you just don't want to boil the actual grains. You can even steep cold. Cooking experience tells me heat extracts quicker than cold (not necessarily better) so a cold steep should be 12 - 24 hours.

However it is often recommended to steep in water around 70 as that is the high end of the mashing range and is good practice for mashing. In this temp, steep for 30 - 60 minutes.

Lovely.

Thank you manticle

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

You can steep in any temp really - you just don't want to boil the actual grains. You can even steep cold. Cooking experience tells me heat extracts quicker than cold (not necessarily better) so a cold steep should be 12 - 24 hours.

However it is often recommended to steep in water around 70 as that is the high end of the mashing range and is good practice for mashing. In this temp, steep for 30 - 60 minutes.

+1. I used to steep at almost boiling temperatures, but I've since found out that this can leave a tannin taste in the beer (like bitter tea). But in a stout, it wasn't noticeable.

70 degrees gets the good sugars out without any nasty tastes. Simple rule is 65-75 will do the trick. the lower it is (i.e. the closer to 65), the more fermentables only come from the malt and the higher (i.e. closer to 75) the more body, but not fermentables. The reason is that the lower range converts starch to fermentable sugar and high range converts to dextrose.

So if you are doing a dark beer or stout and the grains are for flavour (and body), then I suggest maybe 72 degrees (75 is pushing it). Don't forget that if you are chucking it in, that the grain being cooler will lower the water temp by about 3-5 degrees, so I generally have strike temp (i.e the temp when you chuck grains into hot water) at around 5 degrees above what my mash/steep temp is.

 

[Shed101]

Being the lazy arse that I am I use water from the hot tap which is almost bang on 70 C and let that sit.

 

[earle]

70 degrees gets the good sugars out without any nasty tastes. Simple rule is 65-75 will do the trick. the lower it is (i.e. the closer to 65), the more fermentables only come from the malt and the higher (i.e. closer to 75) the more body, but not fermentables. The reason is that the lower range converts starch to fermentable sugar and high range converts to dextrose.

So if you are doing a dark beer or stout and the grains are for flavour (and body), then I suggest maybe 72 degrees (75 is pushing it). Don't forget that if you are chucking it in, that the grain being cooler will lower the water temp by about 3-5 degrees, so I generally have strike temp (i.e the temp when you chuck grains into hot water) at around 5 degrees above what my mash/steep temp is.

These temperature are probably more applicable to mashing. Aren't the sugars in crystal malts already converted? So all your really doing is extracting them from the grains. As Manticle said you can do it with cool water but try to avoid going too much over 70C which will extract tannins as well as sugars.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

These temperature are probably more applicable to mashing. Aren't the sugars in crystal malts already converted? So all your really doing is extracting them from the grains. As Manticle said you can do it with cool water but try to avoid going too much over 70C which will extract tannins as well as sugars.

My bad, didn't read the crystal malts bit....

It does help thought to know these things about getting stuff from grains and the way temp works. That way, if you ever wish to move on to AG, most of the mental effort is sorted. And even if you don't want to ever go AG, it helps to make extract brews. I wish I knew this stuff when I was extract, I think it would have really helped the quality of some of my brews.